Snake-haired, golden Medusa heads still glint from the gates, the swimming pool and flower pots at 1116 Ocean Drive, vestiges of the glamour the fashion designer Gianni Versace brought to South Beach before his death on his own front steps.

Though the Versace family hasn't owned the ocean-front mansion since 2000, auctioneers hope the Italian designer's legacy will attract bidders to the Miami Beach property when it goes up for auction on 17 September.

The minimum bid is set for $25m. To even see the property, potential buyers must sign a confidentiality agreement and prove they have the money to close a deal.

Here's what comes with the house: a swimming pool inlaid with 24-carat gold tiles, gold-plated bathroom fixtures, panoramic views of the ocean from a rooftop observatory and mosaic flooring, frescos and murals custom-made for Versace himself.

Each room has been uniquely furnished by the current owner, and the furniture comes with the sale, including beds so large they need custom-made sheets.

The pool at the mansion. Photograph: J Pat Carter/AP

The new owner's neighbours will include thousands of tourists regularly streaming past the corner property. Many pose for pictures at its front gates, like Nicole and Daniel Francis did Tuesday.

The couple works in the fashion industry in New York City and recognised the mansion as something special, even if Versace no longer lived there.

It has been officially named Casa Casuarina for more than a decade, but the property still commonly referred to as "the Versace mansion" was initially listed for sale at $125m last year. The asking price dropped to $100m and then last month to $75m.

A bedroom at the house in South Beach. Photograph: Gaston De Cardenas/Reuters

Casa Casuarina operated as a private club and then as a boutique hotel until earlier this year. A bankruptcy court appointed Fisher Auction Company to put the property up for auction.

Versace and an entourage of celebrity friends that included Madonna, Cher and Elton John helped revive South Beach in the 1990s from a retirement community known as "God's waiting room" to the pulsating, almost-anything-goes party hub that attracts tourists today.

The designer bought a neglected three-story, Mediterranean-style home and a dilapidated hotel next door in 1992 and spent $33m on renovations. The 2,100 sq metre (23,000 sq ft) mansion now has 10 bedrooms, 11 bathrooms, a 16.5-metre (54ft) mosaic pool lined with 24-carat gold tiles and an open-air courtyard.

Versace was fatally shot on the mansion's stone front steps in 1997 by the serial killer Andrew Cunanan, who later shot himself as a police search closed in on him.